Speaking Truth To Farce

Bibi pours on the reality and lays the wood on the Jew haters. Predictably, the Jew haters hated it.

‘We’re Ready’: Netanyahu Challenges Abbas to Restart Peace Talks

An hour after Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas addressed the U.N. General Assembly to a rousing ovation, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu received a more measured response.

“The Palestinians should first make peace and then declare their state,” he said today in response to Abbas’ bid for U.N. statehood. “Israel is prepared to have a Palestinian state but we are not willing to have another Gaza.”

See also:
Full transcript of Netanyahu speech at UN General Assembly
Netanyahu chides UN, seeks renewed talks with Abbas
In U.N. speeches, Abbas, Netanyahu trade charges of ‘ethnic cleansing’
In Jerusalem, pessimism prevails after UN speeches
Netanyahu on the attack in UN speech
Palestinians Celebrate, Israelis Express Concern Over UN Recognition Bid
Netanyahu to convene advisers to discuss Quartet peace planPalestinian leader rejects intl peace blueprint
Abbas says ‘no’ to Jewish state
Palestinian refusal to recognize a Jewish state preventing peace: Israeli PM

/Michael Ramirez

The ground truth is that there is no such thing as a “Palestinian”, there never has been in all of history, Gaza is controlled by Hamas, sworn to the destruction of Israel, and none of the “Palestinian” leadership will even recognize that Israel has a right to exist as a Jewish state. Their motto is “from the river to the sea“, they’re constantly attacking Israel, and they indoctrinate their children from birth to hate and kill Jews.

/until they completely turn around their culture to conform with the civilized world, if that’s even possible, and accept peaceful coexistence with the Jewish state of Israel, why on Earth should these sick, genocidal, Islamic Jew hating “Palestinian” freaks be granted statehood?

Dumbass In Chief

What a moron! What the [expletive deleted] was he thinking? Seriously, has he lost his mind, is he on drugs, is he mentally ill?

/Allan Tannenbaum/Pool/Getty Images

Obama Flubs Photo Op By Blocking World Leader’s Face With Wave

President Obama turned a group photo op at the United Nations Tuesday into a photo flop when he tossed a wave of the hand, blocking Mongolian President Tsakhia Elbegdorj’s face as the camera flashed

See also:
Photobomb! Obama’s friendly wave hijacks group picture at U.N. photocall
PICKET: Obama blows U.N. photo op
President Obama Forgets He’s Not Alone During Photo Op at U.N.
The ‘hilarious’ photo of Obama ‘moronically’ waving
Another amazing Obama photo
Where’s Weirdo: Obama’s excellent photo op adventure
New “Sorry Everybody” campaign: Apologize on Obama’s behalf to the President of Mongolia

This idiot is President of the United States? Doesn’t the fool have any handlers that can teach him about diplomatic protocol?

/it’s bad enough that he’s single-handedly destroying the U.S. economy, but then he has to rub it in by making an ass of himself and the United States an international laughingstock

When Chinese RATs Attack

Oh, hey, look what China did, again. Isn’t this supposed to be an act of war now?

Massive Global Cyberattack Targeting U.S., U.N. Discovered; Experts Blame China

The world’s most extensive case of cyber-espionage, including attacks on U.S. government and U.N. computers, was revealed Wednesday by online security firm McAfee, and analysts are speculating that China is behind the attacks.

The spying was dubbed “Operation Shady RAT,” or “remote access tool” by McAfee — and it led to a massive loss of information that poses a huge economic threat, wrote vice president of threat research Dmitri Alperovitch.

. . .

Analysts told The Washington Post that the finger of blame for the infiltration of the 72 networks — 49 of them in the U.S. — points firmly in the direction of China.

See also:
Revealed: Operation Shady RAT
McAfee’s Operation Shady RAT exposes national cybersecurity lapses
McAfee discovers massive series of cyber attacks
Hacking Campaign Targets U.S. Government, Signs Point to China
Operation Shady RAT: five-year hack attack hit 14 countries
China Suspected Of Shady RAT Attacks
Q+A: Massive cyber attack dubbed “Operation Shady RAT”
Operation Shady RAT: A frightening web of global cyber-espionage
Operation Shady RAT smells like Chinese hacking
All cursors point to China in global hack attack that threatens nations
China accused of biggest ever global cyber spying attacks
Hackers Based in China Attack UN, Olympic Networks, Security Firms Report
Operation Shady RAT and the cyberhacking
APT Attackers Used Chinese-Authored Hacker Tool To Hide Their Tracks

Why did it take a private security company to uncover the largest case of cyberspying in world history and why aren’t we doing something about it?

/does China have to steal every last piece of sensitive and secret computer data we possess before we start taking this threat seriously?

These Are Not The Drones You Seek

Mission creep, what mission creep? Who are you going to believe, Robert Gates and Obama or your own lying eyes? Why, exactly, are we in Libya again?

U.S. will deploy Predators in Libya

President Barack Obama has given U.S. forces the go-ahead to use armed Predator drones in Libya after forces loyal to Libyan leader Muammar Qadhafi changed their tactics in the fighting there, Defense Secretary Robert Gates announced Thursday.

“It’s an evolving situation. We saw an opportunity here and recommended it to the president. He took it,” Gates told reporters at a Pentagon briefing.

However, Gates said the use of the drones did not indicate that the U.S. was being sucked back into a military campaign that Obama has promised will be handled chiefly by other NATO countries and allied forces.

“This is a very limited addition on our part, but it does provide some additional capabilities to NATO,” Gates said. “I don’t think there’s mission creep at all….The primary strike role has been turned over to our allies, our friends.”

Now remember boys and girls, providing “additional capabilities to NATO” is not, I repeat, IS NOT mission creep. Um, it’s been at least a couple months now, whatever happened to “days, not weeks”?

See also:
U.S. begins using Predator drones in Libya
U.S. Launches Drone Strikes in Libya
Obama authorizes Predator drone strikes in Libya
US deploys armed drones over Libya
Obama Approves Use of Predator Drones in Libya
U.S. Sends Predators to Strike Qaddafi Troops Fighting Rebels
Libya: US sends armed drones to shield rebels
Pentagon: Robot War Over Libya Begins in 3, 2, 1 …
US begins using armed drones in Libya
U.S. introduces armed Predator drones in Libya

Of course, the U.N. resolution we’re operating under only authorizes humanitarian efforts, so I’m sure these armed Predator drones will only be used to deliver food to civilians and stuff like that.

The Council stressed the need to intensify efforts to find a solution to the crisis that responded to the legitimate demands of the Libyan people, noting actions being taken on the diplomatic front in that regard. It further demanded that Libyan authorities comply with their obligations under international law and take all measures to protect civilians and meet their basic needs and to ensure the rapid and unimpeded passage of humanitarian assistance.

In that connection, the Council specified that the flight ban would not apply to flights that had as their sole purpose humanitarian aid, the evacuation of foreign nationals, enforcing the ban or other purposes “deemed necessary for the benefit of the Libyan people”.

I don’t know, what supposedly started out as a limited “kinetic military action” sure as hell seems to have blossomed over the weeks into the United States and NATO openly taking sides in a Libyan civil war.

/how is that not mission creep?

A Kinetic Military Action By Any Other Name

Oh look, they put lipstick on the Operation Odyssey Dawn Pig, like no one will notice.

NATO in Libya: ‘Unified Protector’ hides divisions

The codename for NATO’s operations in Libya, “Unified Protector”, hides internal divisions that the alliance battled hard to overcome before taking on the mission.

The 28-nation military organisation is finally fulfilling Washington’s wishes, replacing the United States at the helm of all operations in Libya and is expected to be fully up and running by Thursday.

But to get to this point, the alliance had to ease Turkish concerns about the scope of the bombing campaign against Muammar Gaddafi’s forces and convince France that NATO should be in command of operations.

Germany was opposed to any military intervention from the outset, refusing to vote for the UN Security Council resolution that authorised “all necessary measures” to protect Libyan civilians.

Despite the squabbles, NATO is enforcing an arms embargo and a no-fly zone, and it finally agreed on Sunday to take over the riskiest mission: preventing Gaddafi loyalists from massacring the population.

See also:
NATO Assumes Command of Libya Operations
Nato takes over air war
NATO Operation Unified Protector against Libya Making Use of Greek Bases in Crete, the Peloponnese
NATO assumes full command of Libya operations
NATO takes control of Libya air operations
LIBYA: NATO assumes ‘sole command’ of coalition air operations
NATO Launches Operation Unified Protector & No Fly Zone Blockade
NATO takes charge of Libyan effort
NATO Assumes Full Command of Operations in Libya
Operation Unified Protector Factsheet
Operation Unified Protector

Dressing it up with a new name and putting a NATO fig leaf on the United States’ intervention in the Libyan civil war doesn’t hide the fact that Obama totally owns this kinetic military action and, so far, it’s not going well at all. The “rebels” Obama has decided to back in this all Libyan conflict are infused with al Qaeda and they can’t fight worth [expletive deleted]. If it weren’t for a highly publicized display of inept confusion, we’d have nothing to show for our efforts to date.

/watch out for Obama’s Runnin’ Rebels, retreating soon to a city or town near you!

Moammar Fly, Moammar Die

Well, this could get interesting, it sure as hell took them long enough. Hopefully it’s not to late to save what’s still left of Free Libya.

U.N. approves no-fly zone over Libya; raids may begin Friday

The U.N. Security Council has approved a no-fly zone over Libya and authorized “all necessary measures” to protect civilians.

The resolution also calls for an immediate cease-fire and an end to all violence.

. . .

British and French warplanes could make initial air raids on Libyan positions as early as Friday, the BBC reports, citing senior U.N. sources. Arab allies might provide logistical support.

See also:
UN votes for air strikes on Libya as Gaddafi warns of reprisals if West attacks
UN Security Council allows ‘all necessary measures’ to protect Libyan civilians
Libya hints at ceasefire as UN Security Council votes to approve no-fly zone
U.N. Security Council approves no-fly zone over Libya to stop pro-Khadafy forces’ bombing of rebels
U.N. votes on Libya ‘no-fly zone’
Libya: UK forces prepare after UN no-fly zone vote
US readying plans to enforce Libya no-fly zone
Western, U.S. militaries prepare to intervene in Libya
What a no-fly zone, other Libya measures would mean
Making U.N.’s no fly approval count
Egypt Said to Arm Libya Rebels

“All necessary measures'” should provide for quite a show. It looks like the Europeans will be taking the lead, let’s see if they can do this right. It would be extremely helpful to the overall effort if air strikes and/or clandestine/special forces were tasked with decapitating the Gaddafi regime. Terminate the Colonel’s command, terminate the Colonel.

/as General Corman said, “he’s out there operating without any decent restraint, totally beyond the pale of any acceptable human conduct, and he is still in the field commanding troops”

Stuxnet Shoots, It Scores!

Gee, sounds like the pump was continuously running well outside its design parameters while indicating normal operation on its control instrumentation, which is is exactly what Stuxnet was designed to do, run machinery beyond tolerance limits while spoofing the performance display readouts with fake data.

IAEA says Iran’s Bushehr delays were caused by pump

Iran was believed to have told the UN atomic watchdog that a broken pump had made it necessary to remove fuel from its first nuclear power reactor, independent experts familiar with the issue said on Monday.

The experts, who declined to be named due to the sensitivity of the issue, said it was a potentially serious problem likely to cause more delays for the Russian-built Bushehr plant, which has yet to start injecting power into Iran’s national grid.

“I think what happened is that the pump failed but it didn’t just fail, it broke up, so that … there are pieces of metal that are now circulated throughout the primary cooling system,” one of them said.

See also:
Breakage in Iranian Reactor Forced Fuel Removal: Russia
Iranian reactor stalled by damaged pump
New setback at Iran’s Bushehr plant
Iran blames broken pump for atom fuel removal-experts
Russia says why Iranian nuclear plant was unloaded
In setback, Iran to unload fuel from nuclear plant
Iran Pulls Fuel From Bushehr Plant Just Before Power Project Scheduled to Go Online
Iran removing nuclear fuel from plant
Iran to unload nuclear fuel from Bushehr plant
Bushehr plant fuel delayed
Bushehr reactor to be emptied
Iran: Removal of fuel rods has nothing to do with Stuxnet

Of course it’s just speculation and no one will actually admit that the pump disintegration was cased by Stuxnet. However, a pump like this would normally give some manner of warning to the operators that the pump was malfunctioning, this one didn’t, it continued to run until it “broke up”. Coincidentally, Stuxnet was designed to cause precisely this type of damage, with no warning, to industrial equipment. Believe it or not.

/in any case, with tiny pieces of metal strewn throughout the reactor’s cooling system and possibly contaminating the nuclear fuel rods, this mess is going to take quite some time to clean up and then it just might happen again

Naughty, Naughty Hezbollah

A U.N.-backed Special Tribunal for Lebanon has issued indictments related to the 2005 assasination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. There about a 100% chance these indictments will implicate Hezbollah in the mass murder. There’s only one problem. So far, the indictments are sealed, so the waiting continues.

U.N. concludes probe of Hariri assassination

A U.N. prosecutor Monday submitted a sealed indictment against suspects in the 2005 assassination of a former Lebanese prime minister, concluding an investigation that has cast suspicion on top Syrian leaders and Hezbollah militants and contributed to the collapse this month of Lebanon’s pro-Western government.

Daniel Bellemare, the U.N. tribunal’s Canadian prosecutor, filed the indictment under seal late Monday before the court’s pretrial judge, Daniel Fransen. It could be several weeks before the identities of the suspects are known and about a year before a trial would be held.

The case has roiled Lebanese politics, with anticipation that the prosecutor would name members of Hezbollah in connection with the bombing attack that killed the former prime minister, Rafiq al-Hariri, and 22 others.

Hezbollah has denied involvement. Hasan Nasrallah, head of the Hezbollah movement, has said he would not allow Hezbollah members to be arrested.

See also:
Lebanon Probe Spurs Indictment
UN Prosecutor Files Indictment in Killing of Lebanon’s Ex-Premier Hariri
Hariri tribunal launches legal case, prompting protests in Lebanon
Lebanon tribunal submits indictment in former PM’s assassination
Tribunal prosecutor: Indictment ‘important moment’ for Lebanon
UN court: Lebanon should avoid Hariri case rumors
Lebanon wary as Hariri indictments raise fears of violence
Hezbollah closely monitoring STL developments
Key events leading up to issuance of tribunal indictments
Hezbollah Vows Defense in Inquiry
Factbox: Lebanon tribunal: The world’s first terrorism court

One thing’s for sure, when these indictments are unsealed and Hezbollah is formally implicated in the Rafik Hariri assassination. all hell will break out in Lebanon.

/it’s a distinct probability that Hezbollah will attempt to completely take over the Lebanese government in response to the accusations

Lebanon Circling The Drain

About to be blamed by a U.N.-backed tribunal for the 2005 assasination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, Hezbollah makes its move.

Lebanon Govt Collapses As 11 Ministers Quit

Lebanon’s Government has collapsed after Hezbollah ministers and their allies resigned from the Coalition.

Adnan Sayyed Hussein’s departure followed the resignation of 10 other ministers, a move which has effectively ended the government’s power-sharing agreement.

Without a stable government in place, fears are growing that the country could fall into a prolonged political crisis and could heighten sectarian tension in the region.

Dominc Waghorn, Sky News Middle East Correspondent, said the dispute was “complicated”, but stemmed from the killing of the country’s former Prime Minister in a car bomb explosion in 2005

See also:
Lebanon government fails as Hezbollah allies quit
Hezbollah exit from Lebanon government carefully planned
U.S. Ally Faces Fight in Lebanon
Eleventh minister resigns, toppling Lebanon government
Arab League ‘disturbed’ by Lebanon govt collapse
Israel Warns Hezbollah Against Any Spillover of Violence from Lebanese Crisis
US Government “closely monitoring” situation in Lebanon
Collapse of Lebanese Government Creates Worries of Deepening Crisis
Israeli troops go on alert amid Lebanon’s political turmoil
Israel troops on alert after Lebanon govt falls
Political crisis shakes Lebanon
Talks on new govt in Lebanon to start Monday

So, what will happen next, will Lebanon descend into sectarian violence or civil war? Hezbollah obviously planned this, no doubt with the blessing of or at the urging of Iran and Syria, what’s their endgame, I mean besides wiping Israel off the map?

/whatever happens, chances are that the outcome won’t be particularly pleasant

So, How’s That Surge Working Out?

It seems that it’s not going particularly well, according to the U.N..

Afghan Security Deteriorates

Internal United Nations maps show a marked deterioration of the security situation in Afghanistan during this year’s fighting season, countering the Obama administration’s optimistic assessments of military progress since the surge of additional American forces began a year ago.

The Wall Street Journal was able to view two confidential “residual risk accessibility” maps, one compiled by the U.N. at the annual fighting season’s start in March 2010 and another at its tail end in October. The maps, used by U.N. personnel to gauge the dangers of travel and running programs, divide the country’s districts into four categories: very high risk, high risk, medium risk and low risk.

In the October map, just as in March’s, nearly all of southern Afghanistan—the focus of the coalition’s military offensives—remained painted the red of “very high risk,” with no noted improvements. At the same time, the green belt of “low risk” districts in northern, central and western Afghanistan shriveled.

The U.N.’s October map upgraded to “high risk” 16 previously more secure districts in Badghis, Sar-e-Pul, Balkh, Parwan, Baghlan, Samangan, Faryab, Laghman and Takhar provinces; only two previously “high risk” districts, one in Kunduz and one in Herat province, received a safer rating.

See also:
Revealed: The classified maps that show Afghanistan is becoming more dangerous… with number of high risk areas spreading
Reports Offer Conflicting Takes on Afghan Security
UN charts escalation of violence in Afghanistan
U.N. maps indicate that security in Afghanistan has eroded since troop surge
Violence in Afghanistan rising not falling
UN maps show security worsening in Afghanistan: report
U.N. maps belie claims of Afghan progress
UN map reveals ‘no noted improvements’ in Afghan security

“Today we can be proud that there are fewer areas under Taliban control and more Afghans have a chance to build a more hopeful future,” Mr. Obama told American troops during a visit to the Bagram Air Field northeast of Kabul earlier this month.

Well, it’s obvious that someone is lying here. The Taliban can’t control more and less territory at the same time.

/but, between Obama and the U.N., I’m not sure who to believe